Articles

Mornings begin with a constitutional in the vicinity of the sacred peepul. Round and round the track they go in their highlighted Adidas, in twos and sometimes threes, talking not of Michelangelo but the stock market, wicked sisters-in-law and the price of onions. The streets are being swept by Har Chandi and her team. Her […] Read more

You catch a quick taste of a few of the millions of flavours that blend into the complexity of India at Heathrow, where Terminal Four is the designated anthill for Third World airlines and travellers. A first glimpse of the tie of turbans- flying saucers, jaunty bandanas and strangely modernized mushrooms of this proud headdress- […] Read more

I haven’t just rushed back to icy Britain- this blog should have been posted before I left for India. Seagulls have been crying in their annoying attention-getting way, swooping the length of the river early in the mornings. Now that the dense curtain of summer vegetation has cleared, Worcester College garden is visible from my […] Read more

The camera was somewhere in the jumble of the car boot, so no pics of Honfleur. In season it’s somewhat like Collioure, on the Cote Vermeille, but now the beguiling vista of drunkenly leaning timber framed houses –some painted duck egg blue- was uncluttered by crowds. Smooth fat rocks cobble the streets which are lined […] Read more

Fifteen years ago I arrived in the valley of the Conflent, Pyrenees Orientales, and lost my heart to this strange, wild, almost-forgotten corner of France- part mountain fastness, part border country- criss crossed with stony trails, highland patches of wild lavender, icy streams- and home to the Catalan people. The valley itself is one of […] Read more

Once upon a time the sous-prefecture of Prades, Languedoc Rousillon, was a township of fairly grand houses,  (maisons des maitre) some belonging to Parisians who liked to winter there. I was once given an informal guided tour of a double-fronted mansion with a heavy, embossed wooden door but otherwise unprepossessing external features. Inside was a […] Read more

                  On my way back home  from Dorset I stopped to take a few pictures of Poundbury, Prince Charles’s statement on domestic and civic architecture, which is set out in a flagship village on the outskirts of the historic town of Dorchester. Twenty five years ago the […] Read more

My friend, Richard, is taking a break on the South Coast,  along with his hard-working wife Helena and their delightful 4 year old Noah. The four of us were soaking up the sun and eating the most delicious beer battered whiting and cod (a few chips too) by  a beach hut at Lyme Regis a […] Read more

Forget the Maharishi and his relatively modest assets; these days galaxies of avatars in the form of Gurus, Babas and Mas (mothers) protected by their vast entourages circle the globe (First Class naturally), generously supporting and comforting the emotionally hungry, from Japan and Brazil to France and Austria. Amma the “hugging guru” can easily fill […] Read more